December 21, 2008

Today, Christians throughout the world observe the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in which Western churches light the fourth and last Advent candle in symbolic preparation for the birth of the Lord. In today’s Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that it is God’s wish that she bear the Messiah. It is such a well-known passage that there would be no need for me to fully quote it, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to further spread this wonderful Word of God (in the classic King James version):

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.For with God nothing shall be impossible.And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

I have hardly ever read/heard such a marvelous story. I have no adequate words to express my admiration and gratitude to the Lord, nor do I think there are any. Perhaps only music can be equal to the task, and that’s why I’ll call upon music to “speak” …

In the video the splendid and famous “Ave Maria” by Charles Gounod (based from Johann Sebastian Bach’s prelude #1 in C major) performed by Deanna Durbin and the Vienna Boys Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben). This touching performance—from the movie Mad About Music—was filmed in the fall of 1937, when Durbin was 15-year-old. A piece of history in itself.

Deanna Durbin's voice was a gift from God which thankfully can still be enjoyed today by watching her old black & white movies on DVD. My favorite Deanna Durbin movie is MAD ABOUT MUSIC. Also, do yourselves a favor by checking out her amazing rendition of "The Last Rose Of Summer" from the movie THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP. For those who are interested, you can see heaps of photos of Deanna at my tribute website:

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About This Blog

The name of this blog indicates a place where people seek their bearings, but this is not a site where they can actually find them—everyone is, or should be, his own wind rose.
Previous incarnations of this blog: here and here.

About Me
I have been a High School teacher of History and Italian almost all my working life. Now that I am retired, I can finally spend more time doing what I love most: writing.
In my Twitter profile I describe myself as “European by birth, American by philosophy,” which after all is quite an accurate description. Perhaps it also supports the adage that brevity is the soul of wit.
I live in the Venice area with my wife, my daughter, and my dog, a Golden Retriever that swims like a fish and is crazy about tennis balls.
Visit my website for more info and full bio: www.srpiccoli.eu.

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«Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV, X
By Order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania for the State House in Philada»
1752

«If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening ...
all over this land,
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between all of my brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
...
It's a bell of freedom»Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
["If I Had a Hammer"]

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. (...)"